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Freshwater ecosystems are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, with more threatened or extinct species than terrestrial and marine ecosystems combined. These systems are often confronted with threats from invasive species, infectious diseases, climate changes, and direct destruction. In many cases, however, the mechanisms through which multiple forms of environmental change interact with one another remain poorly understood, which can limit opportunities for effective conservation. Working in aquatic ecosystems, we strive to understand how different types of both abiotic (e.g., water availability) and biotic (e.g., invaders and pathogens) individually and collectively affect the persistence of native species, the resilience of natural communities, and the ecosystem processes inherent to fresh waters.

The project

In California and Colorado, we are exploring dynamic interactions among invasive species, infectious diseases, habitat losses, and drought. Within these systems, native amphibians (frogs, toads, newts and salamanders) have been especially hard hit by environmental change, such that they are now the most threatened class of vertebrates worldwide. Putative causes of observed declines are numerous and often controversial.Ìý Habitat loss and alteration are often considered among the most significant drivers of declines, but additional causes include infectious disease, introduced species, and changes in climate.Ìý Ultimately, however, drivers of amphibian population declines interact through complex mechanisms, leading to the destabilization of long-term population viability. Efforts aimed at conservation and habitat restoration must recognize the significance of such interactions if they are to be successful, yet most studies continue to assume the perspective of single-factor driven declines.

We currently have projects focused on droughts, non-native species (especially fishes and bullfrogs), and the emerging pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). Our overarching goal is to advance aquatic habitat restoration and conservation by examining interactions among major drivers of declines, including land use change, biological invasions, and the emergence of infectious diseases, with the aim of developing management guidelines pertinent to wetlands throughout the western USA.Ìý

Project publications

Vander zanden, M. J., Gorsky, A., Hansen, G. J. A., Johnson, P. T. J., Latzka, A. W., Mikulyuk, A., Rohwer, R. R., Spear, M. J., and J. R. Walsh (2024). Nine Lessons about aquatic invasive species from the North-Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research program. BioScience , 74: 509-523. .ÌýÌý±Ê¶Ù¹óÌý

Sauer, E. L., Venesky, M. D., McMahon, T., A., Cohen, J. M., Bessler, S., Brannelly, L. A., Brem, F., Halstead, N., Hyman, O., Johnson, P. T. J., Richards-Zawacki, C. L., Rumschlag, S. L., Sears, B., and J. R. Rohr (2024). Are novel or locally adapted pathogens more devastating and why? Resolving opposing hypotheses. Ecology LettersÌý27: e14431. .ÌýÌý±Ê¶Ù¹óÌý

McDevitt-Galles, T., Moss, W. E., Briggs, C. J. and P. T. J. Johnson (2022).ÌýHow extreme drought events, introduced species, and disease interact to affect threatened amphibian populations.ÌýFreshwater BiologyÌý41: 680-694.Ìý.ÌýÌý±Ê¶Ù¹óÌý

Wilber, M. Q., Johnson, P. T. J., and C. J. BriggsÌý(2020).ÌýDisease hotspots or hot species? Infection dynamics in multi-host metacommunities controlled by species composition, not source location. Ecology Letters, 23: 1201-1211.Ìý.ÌýÌý±Ê¶Ù¹óÌý

Grant, E. H. C., Willer, D. A. W., Schmidt, B. R., Adams, M. J., Amburgey, S. M., Chambert, T., Cruickshank, S. S., Fisher, R. N., Green, D. M., Hossack, B. R., Johnson, P. T. J., Joseph, M. B., Rittenhouse, T., Ryan, M., Waddle, J. H., Walls, S. C., Bailey, L. L., Fellers, G. M., Gorman, T. A., Ray, A. M., Pilliod, D. S., Prices, S. J., Saenz, D., Sadinski, W. and E. Muths (2016). Quantitative evidence for the effects of multiple drivers on continental-scale amphibian declines.ÌýScientific ReportsÌý6: 25625.ÌýÌý

Joseph, M. B., Preston, D. L. and P. T. J. Johnson (2016). Integrating occupancy models and structural equation models to understand species occurrence.ÌýEcologyÌý97: 765-775.ÌýÌý

Stewart-Koster, B., Olden, J. D., and P. T. J. Johnson (2015). Integrating landscape connectivity and habitat suitability to guide offensive and defensive invasive species management.ÌýJournal of Applied EcologyÌý52: 366-378.ÌýÌý

Peterson, A. C., Richgels, K. L. D., Johnson, P. T. J., and V. J. McKenzie (2013). Investigating the dispersal routes used by an invasive amphibian,ÌýLithobates catesbeianus, in human-dominated landscapes.ÌýBiological InvasionsÌý15: 2179-2191.ÌýÌý

McMahon, T. A., Brannelly, L. A., Chatfield, M. W. H., Johnson, P. T. J., Joseph, M. B., McKenzie, V. J., Richards-Zawacki, C. L. and J. R. Rohr (2013). Chytrid fungusÌýBatrachochytrium dendrobatidisÌýhas non-amphibian hosts and releases chemicals that cause pathology in the absence of infection.ÌýProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesÌý110: 210-215.ÌýÌý

Johnson, P. T. J., Hoverman, J. T., McKenzie, V. J., Blaustein, A. R. and K. L. D. Richgels (2013). Urbanization and wetland communities: applying metacommunity theory to understand local and landscape effects.ÌýJournal of Applied EcologyÌý50: 34-42.ÌýÌý

Preston, D. L., Henderson, J. S. and P. T. J. Johnson (2012). Community ecology of invasions: direct and indirect effects of multiple invasive species on aquatic communities.ÌýEcologyÌý93: 1254-1261.ÌýÌý

Johnson, P. T. J., McKenzie, V. J., Peterson, A. C., Kerby, J. L., Brown, J., Blaustein, A. R. and T. Jackson (2011). Regional decline of an iconic amphibian associated with elevation, land-use change, and invasive species.ÌýConservation BiologyÌý25: 556-566.ÌýÌýÌý

Olden, J. D., Vander Zanden, M. J., and P. T. J. Johnson (2011). Assessing ecosystem vulnerability to invasive rusty crayfish (Orconectes rusticus).ÌýEcological ApplicationsÌý21: 2587-2599.ÌýÌý

Blaustein, A. R., Han, B. A., Relyea, R. A., Johnson, P. T. J., Buck, J. C., Gervasi, S. S. and L. B. Kats (2011). The complexity of amphibian population declines: understanding the role of cofactors in driving amphibian losses.ÌýAnnals of the New York Academy of SciencesÌý1223: 108-119.ÌýÌý

Johnson, P. T. J., Olden, J. D., Solomon, C. T. and M. J. Vander Zanden. (2009). Interactions among invaders: community and ecosystem effects of multiple invasive species in an experimental aquatic system.ÌýOecologiaÌý159: 161-170.ÌýÌýÌý

Johnson, P. T. J., Olden, J. D. and M. J. Vander Zanden (2008). Dam invaders:Ìýimpoundments facilitate biological invasions into freshwaters.ÌýFrontiers in Ecology and the EnvironmentÌý6: 357-363.ÌýÌý

Project links